Canada suffers first loss at men’s curling world championship, falling 4-3 to Sweden

BASEL, Switzerland – Flirting with extra ends finally proved costly for Canada at the men’s world curling championship.

Kevin Koe’s Calgary rink missed a chance to clinch top spot in the round-robin standings, losing 4-3 to defending champion Sweden in Wednesday’s afternoon draw.

Canada pulled out two extra-end wins earlier in the tournament, but this time they came up short. With Sweden holding the hammer in the 11th end, skip Niklas Edin made no mistake with his tapback for the victory.

“You never want to lose, obviously,” said Canadian lead Ben Hebert. “We were 8-0 and playing pretty well. We had lots of opportunities, and we just missed them.”

Canada’s curlers, which include third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Laing and alternate Scott Pfeifer, took the loss in perspective, as they can still clinch first place with a win over Norway in Thursday’s early draw.

“No sweat,” said Hebert. “We win tomorrow, we’re in first place and in the 1-2 (playoff) game with hammer.

“We’re going out tonight to have dinner with our families. We’re in Switzerland. We’re 8-1. It’s not the end of the world.”

Canada is ahead of a group of five teams tied for second at 6-3, including Norway. Thomas Ulsrud’s rink has a chance to start the final day of round-robin play alone in second, but they fell 6-4 to Japan in Wednesday’s late draw.

With the win Japan joined the logjam at second, as did Edin with his second victory of the day, a 6-4 victory over South Korea. Denmark is the other team tied for second.

Earlier in the day, Canada beat South Korea 9-2, clinching the win with three points in the seventh end.

The Swedes entered the game on a three-game losing streak, so it was must-win territory for the defending champions.

The teams kept it tight for the first five ends before Canada opened the scoring in the sixth when Koe’s tricky tap for a potential two points resulted in just a single point.

The teams traded singles in the seventh and eighth ends before the Swedes finally broke through for the game’s only deuce.

Koe couldn’t generate the winning pair in the 10th and settled for one, giving the hammer to Edin in the 11th.

“We let them off the hook in the first half of the game, for sure,” said Koe. “We had a couple chances for twos or threes and couldn’t convert, and that’s typically what happens in games like that. If you don’t capitalize on your chances, it usually comes back to bite you, and it did that game.”

After its match against Norway, Canada finishes its round-robin play against host Switzerland in Thursday’s final draw.